Borussia Dortmund crowns his strong final spurt in the Bundesliga with a 3-0 (1-0) home win on the 34th matchday against Holstein Kiel and the qualification for the Champions League.
Serhou Guirassy (3rd minute, penalty), Marcel Sabitzer (47th) and Felix Nmecha (72nd) on Saturday against Kieler – who played in Red against Carl Johansson (9th) early on Saturday – ensured bliss at BVB. This means that Borussia played fourth place at the last moment and can also plan in the 2025/26 season with the lavish money pots of the premier class.
After that, it hadn’t looked like in mid -March when Dortmund was only eleventh after a 0-2 in Leipzig. The Champions League seemed to be almost light years away at ten points behind.
But the BVB, which had already left VfL Wolfsburg in round two in the DFB Cup and had made it in the Champions League until quarter-finals. Trainer Niko Kovac found the right mix, orientation and address for the team as the successor to the hapless Nuri Sahin, who was released at the end of January. Dortmund made the change with 22 points from the latest eight games. While the players with their families on the lawn and the fans in front of the south grandstand, but by no means celebrated, did not celebrate exuberantly, the stadium direction played the Champions League anthem. Borussia made a decent from a below average season. And maybe something special will happen at the club World Cup in summer.
“The bottom line is that we are happy, we are happy, but there is certainly no reason to celebrate“It was the rather sober conclusion of BVB coach Kovac.
Serhou Guirassy cheered Dortmund very early
The joyful vibration in black and yellow was allowed to break out in a first jubilee storm in the crucial game a few seconds after kick-off. Nmecha moved to the penalty area over the left. Kiel’s captain Lewis Holtby ran into his feet in Dortmund. Penalty. Guirassy did not let that take, shot into the left corner for 1-0. 3:33 p.m. Absolute bliss of all Borussia – at that time, the Niko Kovac team stood in the Champions League.
And shortly afterwards it looked even better: Karim Adeyemi spoke a pass past Holstein’s Johansson and would have been awaited towards the goal. The Kieler only remained an emergency tall and he received the red card for that. “That was a maximum of bitter“, Kiel’s goalkeeper Thomas Dähne stated opposite the sports show:”We had already done a lot.“Afterwards, BVB dominated the game, also had good deals through distance shots by Sabitzer (21st) and Julian Rerson (25th).
Strange break in the BVB game against Kiel
Early leadership, overnight, superiority – what should go wrong now? The Dortmund seemed to think that too. Because suddenly the black and yellow acted strangely passively on the offensive. Many cross and back passes against deep Kiel drove Kovac to the sidelines. The BVB coach drove its team forward loudly and with clear gestures. But the team had grasped a strange paralysis. “We played far too slowly, far too little played the width“Kovac said later.
Appropriately, the 1-0 for the SC against Frankfurt fell in Freiburg. 4 p.m. Borussia Dortmund had fallen back to fifth place. And shortly afterwards it could have been even more difficult when Kiel played through to the baseline and Shuto Machino (39th) brought the back pass from seven meters to the goal. But BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel reacted strongly with foot defense.
In the cabin back to fourth place
In the ranks in the packed Westfalenstadion, unrest spread. There were occasional whistles, even when the narrow lead went into the break. When Kovac set his team in the cabin for the second half, BVB was suddenly fourth again. Frankfurt had managed to compensate in Freiburg. 4:22 p.m. Dortmund was again a Champions League participant.
Whether it knew the Borussia team or not: it also started optimally in the second half. Machino clumsily played back to Julian Brandt. He put back on Sabitzer. The Austrian slipped from 18 meters when he was trying to shoot, but since two Kiel descended, the ball landed 2-0 on the net.
Felix Nmecha eliminates the last doubt at BVB
“Olé, here is BVB” – Suddenly the south stand was full and all doubts seemed to be eliminated with the team. In the event of a win with two goals, it was one of the same things that organized Freiburg and Frankfurt almost 500 kilometers away. The Borussia seemed to give the last bit of confidence to finish the number well.
Dortmund didn’t allow anything anymore – and added again. NMECHA had too much space on the left in the penalty area and turned the ball into the net to 3-0. Shortly before, Frankfurt’s clear leadership had been shown in Freiburg and the big party in black and yellow could start in the ranks. Also with Managing Director Hans-Joachim Watzke and sports director Lars Ricken crept in a solved smile on the seats in the box.
In the second half of the season, the Kovac team even pushed Bayer 04 Leverkusen from second place. That should also be the minimum claim for the coming season. “The BVB is back”, This was the right vocals of the black and yellow community.